You might wish God would communicate every step you should take each day. Anytime you had choices, God would telegraph His will for that decision. God would make His choice known if you had to decide between McDonald’s and Denny’s, pick between mowing the lawn or washing the car, or take the job at the bank or the local flour mill. Such a deal!

Now, you might be thinking that this would be wonderful. You would never make a wrong choice again. You would immediately know God’s first choice in a spouse, in a job, in a house, in a car, in a church, and so on down the line. This plan, it would seem, would be the very best way to keep all God’s children in line.

So, why doesn’t God provide us with a CPS – the celestial version of a GPS? First, we have to say that since God doesn’t equip each of us with our own personal ephod, it must be contrary to His will to give us this kind of direction for our every decision. In fact, such micro-direction wouldn’t help us grow into maturity or measure up to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15). Divine micro-managing would keep us in a perpetual childhood, which must be contrary to God’s will.

You might object that nobody wants this kind of guidance for every little inconsequential decision. We only need God’s clear direction for the major decisions we have to make. And that is fair enough. Of course, we don’t always know when a decision qualifies as “major.” Some decisions would obviously count, like choosing a life’s partner or a life’s calling. But major decisions sometimes sneak up on us. Without recognizing the significance of the decision, we take a step and then learn, to our horror, that we can’t walk it back. The guy who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident didn’t know what a fateful decision he made when he chose to go riding that day.

I have been arguing for guidance as a matter of faith, not sight. Of course, that doesn’t mean we will never be guided sensationally. I don’t deny the possibility of God communicating His will through extraordinary means. But if He did, that would be extraordinary, not what we would expect. We shouldn’t spend our time looking for direction that falls outside of the typical ways God guides us.

The usual way God directs our paths is mysterious to us, to be sure. But the Bible does teach that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and we should trust God in this. Through His providence and sovereignty, God works behind the scenes, back of our decisions, to accomplish His will, not only in our lives but in all the lives we touch. And meanwhile, God is ordering and governing the entire world according to the counsel of His own most glorious will. As someone has said, God is super-competent.

So, let me point out what I think most readers of this blog would know already. God isn’t playing a shell game with His will. He isn’t hiding the pea under a cup and challenging you to pick the right cup. It is far more likely that you would get lost in a corn maze (something I have done, to my everlasting shame) than that you should get lost trying to navigate God’s will. Most Christians don’t believe God is handing out envelopes with cryptic clues leading to His will. If you do think that, you should stop. God isn’t being sinister or evasive with His will, and you don’t have to pin Him down to find out what it is.

Where I think we part ways is not in the elusiveness of knowing God’s will. I think we differ on what is required to know God’s will. Rather than approach the will of God in wisdom, many Christians approach it mystically. Many believe that to know God’s will for a major decision, they will need to get themselves into an extra-spiritual state of mind so they are in a condition to receive God’s message. And so, many are trying to wring all the juice out of their soul to get to the extra-surrendered state necessary to get that mystical impulse that will lead them to do what they ought to do.

Does God withhold His guidance until we fully surrender? What is the appropriate level of surrender or spirituality necessary to know God’s will? Has God set forth these spiritual requirements, the degree of submission required for me to know His will? Is there a checklist or a guidebook, something I might consult? And how often in my life will I need to do this? Does God give me a once-for-all direction, or should I seek daily guidance? And if I need daily guidance, do I need to keep up this relentless hyper-surrender necessary to receive that guidance?

I have to believe that God is always directing my paths. I also must think that God is always ready to lead me. The Bible doesn’t limit or restrict God’s promise that “He shall direct thy paths.” We are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart, not to lean unto our understanding, to acknowledge Him in all our ways, not to be wise in our own eyes, to fear the Lord and depart from evil. This should be part of our everyday, ordinary walk with God. But God never stops directing our paths.

Would there ever be a call for extended periods of fasting and prayer because of an important decision we must make? Of course! But these extended periods of fasting and prayer shouldn’t be done so we can get ourselves in the proper frame of mind to perceive God’s otherwise imperceptible direction. In fact, extended periods of fasting and prayer are ways we put the matter in God’s hands. 

So, how does God direct our paths? For starters, He leads through His Word. Nor should we expect to find guidance outside of the Word if we aren’t first seeking guidance in and through the Word. If we follow the precepts of God’s Word, many opportunities will be opened to us, while others will be eliminated. God’s Word shapes our priorities and ambitions and gives us a good, working set of objectives for life. If we wish to know God’s will, look first at the revealed will of God.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: (I Thessalonians 4:3-5)

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: (I Peter 2:13-15)

God directs our paths by His mighty hand. But we can’t expect to be sensible of this. This is something we rest and rely on.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3)

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:24)

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. (Psalm 32:8)

And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:11)

God also directs our paths through the work of the Holy Spirit, who bends our hearts in the right direction. Again, this bending isn’t always perceptible. Nor should we look for tangible evidence since God never promises to give it. Part of trusting in the Lord with all our hearts means we trust Him to lead. If we don’t trust God to keep that promise, we aren’t trusting Him with all our heart.

Recently, in our family devotions, we discussed the difference between restraining grace and renewing grace. Though the two are not the same, they work in tandem. Restraining grace is God’s special grace on the believer that prevents him from doing things that he would like to do, that his heart pursues, and that would be destructive to him. Renewing grace is God’s work in the heart that transforms the believer so that he no longer desires to do those harmful things. Restraining grace is the leash that secures the dog until the dog learns not to run off. Renewing grace trains the dog so he no longer needs the leash. Restraining grace is the reins on the horse that keep it from running wild. Renewing grace tames the horse so it won’t run wild anymore.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. (Hosea 2:6-7)

God knows how to apply both graces to our wild hearts, to work in us until we follow His will without the restraints. We can be sure that God is directing our paths this way – restraining us from destructive decisions and working a loyalty to Christ in us that will send us in the right direction.

Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:3-5)